31 January. Jolly news for these snowy times - Rebellion are to release a 48-page Cor! & Buster Special on 17 April, featuring characters including Sweeney Toddler and Gums, drawn by the likes of Ned Hartley, Cavan Scott, Abigail Bulmer and Tanya Roberts. This will be followed by a reprint for Free Comic Book Day (4 May) entitled Funny Pages, featuring reprints from the archive.

29 October. Judge Dredd Megazine will include a bagged tribute to the late Carlos Ezquerra. "Carlos' death was a profound shock, not just to everyone at 2000AD but also to his fans across the world," says editor Matt Smith. "This small collection of his stories shows not just his evolution as an artist but also a sense of his incredibly consistent quality over more than four decades."

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Friday, April 10, 2015

Comic Cuts - 10 April 2015

Last week I mentioned that my "book-in-a-week" project has turned into a "book-in-ten-days-maybe" and that I had already used up six days. My confidence that I would be getting back to work on the book on Friday of last week didn't pan out. I'd forgotten that it was a bank holiday, which meant a change of plans. I suspect that I really only did one full day over the whole weekend, spending the time indulging myself with walks, cheesecake and visits to friends to watch movies. I can heartily recommend all of these activities.

So that's day seven, during which I did a little rewriting and scanned some additional material that I thought I wasn't going to include in the book, but what the heck. It will add another few pages and another few pence to the cost, but this is already a 180+ page, thoroughly self-indulgent project that I'm guaranteed to lose money on... why not go for broke, eh?

The extra pages were finished by Tuesday and I worked on the cover Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. It isn't quite finished but it's starting to look good. Wednesday afternoon I spent on laying out some of the introductory pages, which takes me up to the close of day nine. I'm writing this Thursday morning and I should be getting back to the book tomorrow—Thursday's a bit of a tidy-up day and I need to make some phonecalls, sort out some mail, back-up some of the files on my computer and start work on next week's blog posts.

I shall be on day ten by the time you read this (if you're reading this on Friday, that is) and it will be interesting to see how close I am to finishing as that's two working (five-day) weeks. A burst of speed might be a factor in doing some books I have planned, a subject I'll return to next week when I should have some news about the future of Bear Alley and Bear Alley Books.

Random scans for this week are a group of pamphlet-style magazines from around 1947-48, all published by Brown Watson. The firm went on to become better known as Digit Books, but in its earlier days produced 32-page magazines, making the best of the paper shortage. The first three are from a run of eleven issues of Sparkling Confessions which ran in 1947-48. I believe some of these were complete stories, but most were anonymous collections of two or three stories.

Just to add to the fun, some issues were numbered, some weren't. The first issue shown here was the unnumbered second issue with the lead story "I Plotted in Vain". The series was then numbered until issue eight, with three unnumbered issues following. The wedding cover had the lead story "Sisters Under the Skin", whilst the rose-sniffing lady featured on an issue that led with the story "My Indian Prince".

Spotlight Confessions and Tantalising Tales were both one-shots from 1948, once again filled with anonymous short stories. There's a chance that some of these were written by Eileen Wilmot, who contributed to a similar, contemporary Brown Watson magazine; G. M. Byrne and Ronald Horton also contributed, but to one of the crime titles and neither author has any track record as romance writers.

Next week it's Look and Learn nature author week, pulling together some of the biographical diggings that I've been doing in my spare time. OK, it wasn't really spare time—I should have been working on other things.

I should explain some of the above pics. There was a local history exhibition on over the weekend and I was wandering around taking photos of some of the exhibits. The top pic (Bile Beans) was a postcard from the 1940s, while the other two were posters from the same era. Bile Beans, incidentally, were laxatives.

AVAILABLE NOW!Forgotten Authors Vol.1Click here for details and payment options"This is utterly fascinating: what a terrific accomplishment! It has held and engaged me. Authors who are only names have been documented and recorded, from the pathetic to the successful, and everywhere in between. This is incredible research, and I cannot begin to thank you enough for sharing it. I’m dipping into it with absolutely enormous pleasure."—Richard Bleiler"Recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of books, book publishing, obscure authors or even researching family history. Looking forward to Volume 2"—Amazon review.

AVAILABLE NOW!The Men Behind Flying Saucer ReviewClick here for details and payment options"Beginning in 1955, the Flying Saucer Review has been key to chronicling the appearance of Unidentified Flying Objects and the latest theories of why they have been appearing in our skies. A dedicated group of enthusiasts - amongst them an accountant, a publisher's editor, a test pilot, a novelist and a member of the House of Lords - were amongst those who helped put together this remarkable magazine. Who they were and how they came to work together makes for a fascinating tale, some of it as curious as the phenomena the magazine studied."

AVAILABLE NOW!Countdown to TV ActionClick here for details and payment options."The perfect compliment to my set of Countdown/TV Action" - Graham Bleathman."A wonderful trip down memory lane. Recommended" - Paul Simpson, Sci-Fi Bulletin"If you read Countdown as a child, you'll be fascinated by this account of its making ... indispensable." - John Freeman, Down the Tubes"The definitive history of the title" - Lew Stringer, Blimey!"I urge you to grab a copy and give Steve Holland a tip of the hat for the amount of hard work, research and love he's poured into making a book of information become an interesting story" - Barnaby Eaton-Jones, The Cult Den

Lion King of Picture Story PapersClick here to order"It's a great read in itself and has sent me back to the Lion comic to re-read some of my childhood favourites. The pictures are reproduced crystal clearly and even this old man can read the original art ... It's a gorgeous book and if we are snow-bound as the media has been saying for weeks, I have plenty to keep me amused this chilly January weekend!" - Norman Boyd.

Sexton Blake Annual 1941Click here to order"If you've been meaning to give Sexton Blake's adventures a try, this would be a great place to start. I've seen the actual annuals go on Ebay for three or four hundred bucks, so this is definitely a bargain too." - Singular Points.

Peter Jackson's London Is Stranger Than FictionClick here to order"The original books have been highly collectable for many years now, but finally they’ve been republished in a single volume from Bear Alley Books ... for the ridiculously reasonable price of £14.99. Do yourself a favour. " Christopher Fowler.

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